Twitter isn’t for everyone. Some people love it, some people loathe it, and some people just don’t get it. Despite some negative press (although what social media channel isn’t guilty of that at the moment?) Twitter is still going strong, with over 126 million daily users.

One of the main cons you will hear people bemoaning
when it comes to Twitter is its reputation as an ‘echo chamber,’ where people
only follow and retweet those who stick to the narrative that they want to
believe. Whilst this might not be the best way to use social media as an
individual, echo chambers are exactly what a brand needs – what better way to
reach and gain followers in your target market that on a platform where people
like to share the things they feel represent them best.

Sharing your story on Twitter isn’t always easy –
there is a lot of noise to cut through and you need to be concise. The benefit
of this is that social media has given people a short attention span when
browsing online, so you don’t need to write lengthy posts. A quick update on
what you’re doing, what’s going on behind the scenes of your brand, and how
your followers can learn more about you, will usually do the trick. Twitter can
generate great click through rates, and tweets shared with imagery always
perform better than those without.

Check your audience

With this in mind, it’s necessary to consider whether
your brand lends itself to Twitter. Young people use the platform to share
images, memes, and a lot of political opinions. So if your brand is modern,
fitting with the zeitgeist, and visually appealing, make sure you know your
hashtags and influencers, and get tweeting.

If your audience is older, look for news hooks and
other stories that you can share to get your name out there. The next step is
to start selling your own brand and product, but only when you have a
following: if your page is full of tweets about what you want to sell, people will
want to follow you. You have to give a little something of value back to the
Twitter community.

Make the most of its features

Twitter has some great features, like Lists, where you
can separate certain groups (e.g. competitors, or followers who fit certain
categories) and see what they are tweeting about. It’s a good way of keeping on
top of current trends that your audience is interested in – but remember, it’s
all publicly viewable.

Try Twitter ads

Like Facebook, you can advertise on Twitter by
promoting existing tweets. This isn’t always an effective way of converting
sales, but it raises awareness of your brand by placing your tweets in the
timelines of people with similar interests.

It’s a lot to get your head around, so if you want a helping hand, or a one on one where we can explain the ins and outs in more detail, get in touch with our team of social media experts today, and let us take the weight of 3 billion social media users off your shoulders.